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- 1. FOOD LABELS AND THEIR SUGAR CONTENTS Quynh Do
- 2. What is the problem? • The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans: calories from added sugar should not exceed 10% of total calories intake per day no more than 200 calories (12 teaspoons). • However, the average American consume about 270 calories of sugar (17 teaspoons) daily, which is more than the amount recommended. • As people become aware of negative health impacts, consumers consciously choose products with lower amount of sugar. • Food companies use many different ways to hide the real sugar content in their products.
- 3. How do they hide the sugar content? • Using terms that suggest lower amount of sugar, such as “low sugar”, “lightly sweetened”, … • Using claims like “no added sugar” for products with concentrated fruit juice and fruit puree which are also high in sugar. • Using other sugars with names that seem to be healthier such as “unrefined sugar”.
- 4. How do they hide the sugar content? • There are more than 60 different names for sugar on food labels, some names don’t sound like sugar at all. for example: dextrose, maltodextrin, molasses, evaporated cane juice, … • Using many types of sugar in smaller amount, so that the sugars don’t stay higher up in ingredient list. • Adding sugar in food that doesn’t taste sweet at all (ex: salad dressing, sauces, …)
- 6. What is at stake? • Misleading labels can trick consumers into eating too much sugar. • Overconsumption of sugar can lead to weight gain and various diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, and other complications. • Food-related diseases can be costly for both the patients and the healthcare industry.
- 7. Who is involved? • FDA: Food and Drug Administration • Public health agencies • Food companies • The consumers
- 8. What has already been done? • The FDA requires food companies to include the weight and percent Daily Value of added sugars to help consumers make more informed food choices.
- 9. What can be done? • Consumers: - self- educate about the recommended amount of sugar, negative effects of sugar, as well as how to read food labels - demand for clearer and easier-to-understand food packaging • Public health agencies: - educate the public on how to read the food labels and the effects of sugar - educate and encourage consumers to eat a healthy and balance die
- 10. What can be done? • FDA: - Propose new food label design that is easier to read - Take other measures to protect the well-being of consumers and help them make informed food choices • Food companies: - Put consumers’ health as top priority - Follow the FDA regulations on food labeling
- 11. Work Cited • Aubrey, Allison. “No More Hidden Sugar: FDA Proposes New Label Rule.” National Public Radio, 24 Jul . 2015. www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/07/24/425908798/no-more-hidden-sugar-fda-proposes- new-label-rule. • Austein, Beth A. “Will New Food Labels Reduce Sugar Consumption?” Montana Public Radio, 29 Sep. 2019. www.mtpr.org/post/will-new-food-labels-reduce-sugar-consumption. • “Cut Down On Added Sugar.” 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines For Americans, Mar. 2016. health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-10/DGA_Cut-Down-On-Added-Sugars.pdf. • Lee, Bruce. “Here Is How Sugar Is Hiding In Your Snacks.” Forbes, 11 Apr. 2019. www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2019/04/11/here-is-how-sugar-is-hiding-in-your- snacks/#3ee51b4a404b. • O’Connor, Anahad. “Are Food Labeled ‘Low Sugar’ Misleading Consumers?”. The New York Times, 26 Feb. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/02/26/well/eat/are-foods-labeled-low-sugar-misleading- consumers.html. • West, Helen. “8 Ways Food Companies Hide the Sugar Content of Foods.” Healthline, 09 Apr. 2019. www.healthline.com/nutrition/8-ways-sugar-is-hidden.
Editor's Notes
- What is the problem with our daily sugar intake? The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that calories from added sugar should be no more than 10% of total calories., which means no more than 12 teaspoons of sugar a day for an average 2,000 calories diet. However, the average American consumes more than the recommended amount: about 17 teaspoons of sugar a day. Many foods have added sugar, such as sodas, cereals, and some even contain an excessive amount of sugar. By eating and drinking these products, consumers unconsciously eat more sugar than the recommended amount on the daily basis. As more people become aware of the negative effects of sugar, they choose to reduce the amount of sugar intake and shop for food products that have low amount of sugar. Therefore, food companies use various tricks to hide the sugar content of their products. the sea of products at supermarkets, consumers can easily be overwhelmed and misled by food packaging that claim to be healthy for them.
- There are many tactics used by food companies. The most prominent must be the terms used to suggest a lower amount of sugar. Honest Tea’s peach-flavored ice tea has the message “Just A Tad Sweet” on the packaging, which can make consumers think that this product have a small amount of sugar. In fact, the drink itself contains 25g of sugar or 6 teaspoons of sugar. For one bottle of iced tea to contain half the amount of recommended sugar intake is definitely not good for your health, not to mention that you can easily consume several bottles of drink a day without thinking about the amount of sugar they contain. There are many products with the claim “No added sugar”. However, about 50% of those products contain high concentration of natural sugar in ingredients such as concentrated fruit juice and fruit puree. Another way for food brands to hide their sugar is to use a healthier alternative to sugar, such as agave nectar. By using these alternatives, companies can advertise the product as ”contains no refined sugar”. Even though the alternatives can seem to be healthier, they are still sugar after all.
- The food companies think of many names for sugar to, and some names are hard to read and recognize. Consumers will have no idea that all those names mean exactly one thing: sugar. Ingredients are listed on food packaging based on weight, with the main ingredients on top of the list. To make the name of sugars stay low in those lists, food companies use many types of sugar in smaller amount to make the consumers think that sugar doesn’t present in great amount in the products. We normally associate sugar with food that tastes sweet. However, there can be sugar hiding in food that doesn’t taste sweet at all, such as salad dressing, ketchup, and other sauces.
- Here is an example of Honest Tea’s possible misleading claim “Just a Tad Sweet”. This can make consumers think that this product has less sugar than other peach-flavored iced tea. Another example is how the food companies use several types of sugar in one product so that sugar doesn’t stay to high up in the list. Some names such as brown sugar or corn syrup are easy to identify as sugar, but blackstrap molasses doesn’t seem like sugar at all.
- Misleading labels trick consumers into thinking that the products are healthy, or at least, are healthier than other similar products. To those who are not aware of the healthy amount of sugar intake, these products can miseducate consumers about the healthy diet. If a lightly sweetened product contains 5 teaspoons of sugar, then how many sugar is there in a normally sweetened product? Sugar is no doubt a good source of carbohydrate to fuel our bodies, but and excessive amount of sugar ingested daily is harmful. Weight gain, obesity, diabetes, and other heart diseases are the consequences of eating too much sugar. To treat these diseases can create financial stress on the patients, as well as stress on the health care industry.
- So who is involved in this ongoing debate? The FDA is responsible for the regulation of food labels. Food companies, of course, since they are the one who designs food packaging and provides the ingredient list. The consumers are also involved by demanding for a clearer and more transparent food packaging. Public health agencies are also involved as well.
- The FDA has already made changes regarding food label design, that require food companies to clearly label how much added sugar is in their products, instead of listing all sugars together as Total Sugar” to help consumer discern added sugar and naturally-occurring sugar in the food. Apart from labeling the weight of added sugar, the FDA also require the percent Daily Value of added sugar based on an average 2,000 calories diet.
- Consumers can demand both the food companies and federal agencies for clearer food packaging, since misleading packaging can have negative effects on their well-beings. Public health agencies can help educate the consumers about a healthy diets, negative effects of sugar. Moreover, educating consumers on how to read food labels and ingredient list is helpful for consumers to be able to understand what is in their food, not falling for marketing tricks of food companies, as well as providing them the ability to consciously control what they eat.
- The FDA can consider changing the food label design to make it easier to read and to reflect the real amount of sugar. FDA can propose other measures to prevent misleading claims and protect the well-being of consumers. Even though is sounds impossible, but we must encourage food companies to put consumers’ health as top priority. Food companies focus solely on profits, while they have the responsibility to provide healthy food for our consumption. Food companies must follow the FDA’s regulations and guidelines on food labelling to ensure transparent food information for consumers and enable them to make informed food choices.